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J. IV. RICE, OF SPRING FIELD, MASSACHUSETTS Letters Patent No. 64,036,- elated April 23, 1867.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

.Be it'known that I, J. WI am, of Springfield, Hampden county, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useial improvements in Car-Brakes and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon. In these drawings Figure 1 is an end view of the car frame having my brake. 7

Figures 2 and 3, detailed views of the improvements.

Figure 4 is a plan view of the trucks of a'oar having part of my improvements; and

Figurefi is a-detailed view ofa portion of my invention.

This invention relates to that class of car-brakes known as self-acting, in which reserve power is suddenly applied to the brakes incases of emergency. I

In order to simplify the description and purpose of my invention, Iwill mention at first three points and qualifications In the first place, it does not interfere at all vwith the ordinary hand-brake, that being free to be moved at all times, as in ordinary cases; secondly, after being set the engineer can at any moment apply the brakes to the whole train, and can then release them from pressure on the wheels without moving from his engine; thirdly, all the friction used 'can be applied equally and at the same moment to the wheels of the entire train. I

To accomplish these important advantages I construct my device as I will now describe.

In plate 1 of the drawings, A. is 'the shaft of the hand-brake, which has its bearings at a and Z7. Around this shaft I place a sleeve, 13, entirely disconnected from the shaft A otherwise. This is confined between the points 0 and d by means of shoulders on the sleeve. At the' lower portion of this sleeve is a gear-wheel, C, meshing with another wheel, D, the latter upon a shaft, E, to which is attached the chain connecting with the levers beneath the car. Upon the upper part of the sleeve Bis attached a horizontal arm, e, having a pawl, f. Over the sleeve B is placed another sleeve, F, shown in fig. 1 by dotted lines' This has attached to its lower end a ratchet-wheel, G, operated upon by a pawl, 9, attached to the cross-bar II. The sleeve F passes up through a drum, I, which has at its lower part a ratchet-wheel, J, operated upon by a pawl, k, and at its top edge is a ratchet, K, operated upon by the pawlf, before mentioned. Inside of this drum I is arranged a coilspring, L, which is attached atone end to the sleeve F, and at the-other to the inside of the drum. This is shown in fig. 2. Around 'the circumference of the drum is a circle of cogs, iii, which mesh in with the cogwheel M, which is set upon a shaft, N, by which the device is wound up. 0 and P are two dogs, which, when pulled up by the cords 7c and Z, allow the pawls h andg to release their ratchets. The cords 7c andl pass up to the top of the car and communicate with the engineer, as will be hereafter described In order for this device to be subject to the control of the engineer it is necessary that it should first be set, the operation of which I will now describe. w i v The pawls k and 9 being set and held by the dogs O and P, the shaft N is turned by hand, revolving the drum I, the pawl it, being a 'jointed one,'allows the teeth of the ratchet J to slip by as the drum is turned, but prevents it from slipping back. The sleeve F is held stationaryby means of the ratchet G and pawl 9, so that in turning the drum around it the spring L is wound up. In turning the drum in this direction, the pawl f, connected with the sleeve B, slips over the teeth of the ratchet is upon the drum, so that the sleeve B is not moved. When the drum is thus turned sufliciently to wind up the spring within it, the whole is ready for use and can be sprung at any moment, operating as follows: The dog 0 being liftedlthe pawl h is loosed, allowing the drum I to whirl back to its former position, moved by the force of the spring L. In this instance the pawl f catches in thetee'th of the ratchet K, and the sleeve'B turns'with the drum, winding up the chain upon the shaft E by means of the gearing already described, all the friction that can be obtained by the power of the spring being brought to bear against the wheels of the car. Now, by lifting the dog P, the pawl g is allowed to turn on its pivot, and the'whole gearing connected with' the sleeve B is loosed, and the pressure upon the wheels of the car removed; p v I I In the operation of this process of brakingmp the train, and then releasing the pressure, I use two cords, which pass through the entire train to .the engine. One of these operates all the dogs 0, whichiapply the power of the springs to the brakes, andthc other operates the dogs P, releasing the same. With these two horizontal cords are connected theverticaleords r and s, which are attached directly to the dogs. The arrangement of-these connections is shown in the diagram upon plate 1, in which a and u are the main cords, andr and s the branch cords, connecting the ones if and u to the dogs. These, as is seen, pass over the pulleys 21 o u. so as to draw the cords 1' and s vertically if the cords t and u be drawn in either direction, or from either end of the train. lhe connection of the cords r and s with the dogs 0 and P is made in the following manner; The cords are formed with loops w 20 at their lower ends. These loops slip over the ends of the dogs, andrest in notches as 2:. Cut in the lower sides of the dogs at these points springs 31 y are fastened so that they pass over the lower opening of these notches, preventing the end loopsfrom slipping off until the dogs are drawn up to a suflicient angle to allow the loops to pass between the springs and the sides of the dogs and slip off the latter. If it should be desired, both dogs 0 and P may be placed upon one side of the drum, in which case the connecting-cords may be arranged upon the same side of the car. In fig. 1 it is shown that the shaft A of the" hand-brake has a chain attached to its lower end, and that the ,shaft E, operated by the gear-wheels d and c,

has a separate one. These chains both connect with the centre chain beneath the car, so that if either be tightened it operates the brakes, allowing the other to hang loose. The gear-wheels c and 0Z may. be made of different relative sizes, so that a greater leverage and more retardedaction or tne're'verse maybe obtained. In-

plate 2 of the drawings is shown my method of applying the friction of the shoes equally and at-the same time" to all the wheels of the car. This is done by means of equalizers, constructed as follows: In' figl5'it is shown. that the chains Q Q, which are operated by the windlass'at either end of the cur, connect with levers R B. These levers work upon a pivot, z, in the centre, around which is a box, S, having pulleys, 1 2 3 4, between its. top and bottom sides. A centre chain, T, is passed around these pulleysand through the box S diagonally, so that if the chains Q Q be gathered in turning the box S on the pivot, the centre chain T, which is attached to levers U U at each end, is gathered in at the centre, operating the leversU U equally and atthe same time.. These levers are themselves attached to equalizers, constructed on the same principle asthe one described, one of which is shown in fig. 6, plate 2. In these the chain V is attached at each end to the brake-bar having the shoes upon it, and, as in the former case, the chain passing over pulleys 5 and Gbrings the strain. equally and simultaneously upon each end of it. In this manner it will beseen that the Windlass at either end of the can;

being opera-ted divides its force equally upon all the wheels of the car at the same time. In the box S, following the diagonal course of the chain, are cut slots 7, into which works a pin, 8. This pin isput through thecentre link of the chain T, andshould either portion of the same break when in operation the pin 8 is brought up against the other ends of the slots 7 and prevents the chain from slippingout, allowing it to still operate the lever to which it is attached;

The great advantages I obtain by this arrangement are the instantaneous control that the engineer has over the brakes upon the whole train, so that at any moment, by pulling one cord, he can stop up the whole train, and then, if the necessity for the same should cease, he can, by pulling another cord, release all pressure upon the wheels of the cars, and pass on without more loss of time. Besides this, is the perfect action of the equalizers in'braking up all the trains at once, thereby much lessening the danger of braking them, and stopping up the train much more suddenly.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is I 1. In a brake for cars, the combination of the drum I, having the spring L, ratchets K and J, and the sleeve F, having the spring L attached to it, and the ratchet G, with the sleeve 13, having the pawl f, the whole arranged substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth herein.

2. In combination with the above arrangement, the pawls g and it, and dogs 0 and P to operate the pawls, the same constructed and operating substantially as described.

3. In combination with the drum I the device for turning the same, consisting of the shaft it, cog M, and crank z, substantially as shown and specified. I

4. In combination with the sleeve 13, provided with cog-wheel C, I claim the wheel D, and shaft forming a windlass for the brake chain.

5. The equalizers for brakes herein shown, in which the chain passes around two or more pulleys, 1 2 3 4, arranged in a frame, S, having slots 7 in it, into which works a pin, 8, substantially as shown and described.

J. W. RICE.

Witnesses:

J. B. GARDINER, E. H. HYDE. 

